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Units of Measurement
Currency The unit of currency is, conveniently, the unit. 99.99.99? Mike the TV repeatedly refers to the things he advertises as costing "ninety-nine ninety-nine ninety-nine," although it is unclear how that number should be broken up. Length/Distance Bits In "Quick and the Fed", Megabyte declares, "He'll erase if he gets within ten bits of that magnet!" It is difficult to say what, if anything, is meant by a bit in this case. In real life a bit is a unit of data, not of length. Microns The Welly's Data Retrieval Systems vehicles used by Bob in "High Code" and Dot in "Gigabyte" have signs on the roof (and mirrored on the inner ceiling) reading CAUTION .3 MICRON OVERHEAD. Between the movement of the scenes, the irregular shape of the vehicle, and the fact that the only basis of comparison both times is a seated sprite, it is impossible to determine the vehicle's clearance height with any degree of accuracy, but from the cab roof to the tallest point of the vehicle appears to be at least comparable to an adult data sprite's height, suggesting that a micron is on an order of magnitude equivalent to something like a decameter. In real life, a micron is another name for a micrometer, or a millionth of a meter. The world of ReBoot is very tiny indeed. Time Time in ReBoot is... less than entirely consistent. The following units have been used: Nanosecond In addition to its use as a more concrete unit of time, the nanosecond, or "nano", is the go-to equivalent for more figurative uses of "second" or "minute"; more broadly speaking, a moment. *"Well, it's not exactly new... if you call 31 nanoseconds new." ("Racing the Clock") *"But I didn't know it was gonna get Bob in trouble, and now he's flying to Megabyte's and he could blow up any nanosecond if we don't..." ("Racing the Clock") *"No, really. I'm worried about the Mitchell account inputs. It'll just take a nanosecond." ("Medusa Bug") *"But you heard Dot: spending a nanosecond with me could throw your entire life out of whack." ("The TIFF") *"This is gonna take millions and millions of nanoseconds!" ("Enzo the Smart") *"Hmm, yes. Ze file is vell encrypted, your immenseness. Our decoding command will take at least 2,000 nanoseconds to release ze PIDs." ("Identity Crisis: Part 1") *"Bob, where are you?" "Just a nano away! Had to mend a minor tear in Kits sector." ("Infected") *"I can't believe it! I had that laser-scope here a nano ago." ("High Code") *"Phong? It's Dot. Did you register anything strange in the last nanosecond?" ("When Games Collide") *"Just a nano, Enzo, I've got Phong online. ("Painted Windows") *"Mouse, how did you get here so quickly? I only sent out the call a nano ago." ("Gigabyte") *"It's working, Phong. In a few more nanos he'll be too far from the city to get back." ("Gigabyte") *"Be with you in a nano! Like, I am rushed off my inlines!" ("Trust No One") *"In a couple of nanoseconds, it won't make any difference." ("Trust No One") *"Now keep fighting! I'll be with you in a nano!" (Icons) *"Captain, I calculate that in three point six nanoseconds the Spectrals will return in force." (Where No Sprite Has Gone Before) *"Wait a nano! Who restricted travel?" ("The Episode with No Name") *"You have three nanoseconds to surrender! Three... two..." ("Return of The Crimson Binome") *"Okay, I've got him. See you in a nano." ("System Crash") *"But... how? Wait a nano..." ("System Crash") *"Portal stable! I've time-locked it to collapse in two nanos!" ("Daemon Rising") *"Well, just slip out of your uniform and hop up onto the scanner. I'll be with you in a nano." ("What's Love Got To Do With It?") *"Having fun, then?" "Loving every nano of it!" ("Null Bot of the Bride") *"I'm sending a viral incident team immediately. They'll be there in nanoseconds." ("Crouching Binome, Hidden Virus") Microsecond *"Enzo and Frisket?" "Yeah." "Worried about 'em?" "They should have been here microseconds ago." ("In the Belly of the Beast") Millisecond *"Bob, I was supposed to take Enzo to his ancient language class milliseconds ago!" ("The TIFF") Second *"You don't have all second, you know!" ("Quick and the Fed") *"This might even take one whole second!" ("Enzo the Smart") *"Com stats. How long we got?" "Initial detonation complete. Ten seconds to planet destruction." "Oh, great, a whole ten seconds." ("AndrAIa") *"I've been on my own for seconds. I don't need anybody!" ("Icons") *"I had a meeting with Turbo just last second." ("What's Love Got To Do With It?") *"You should have hacked into that system seconds ago." ("What's Love Got To Do With It?") *"This is the happiest second of my life!" ("Null Bot of the Bride") Minute *'Error:' "Wait a minute... a bubble!" ("The TIFF") *"I haven't had this much fun in minutes!" ("The Crimson Binome") *'Error:' "Wait a minute... Cool." ("Painted Windows") Day * "Have a nice day." "And that's a nice day right back at you!" ("Return of The Crimson Binome") Cycle *"Very well, but we'll see who's playing what by the end of the cycle!" ("Talent Night") *"Hey. You having problems with your interocitor?" "Yeah, for the fifth time this cycle." ("Bad Bob") *"A few more cycles and Mainframe's power will be mine, all mine!" ("Bad Bob") *"To make matters worse, I've calculated 29 million cycles before the stolen energy dissipates and Mainframe will be offlined!" ("Bad Bob") *"That was five cycles ago, now we want to go back!" ("Where No Sprite Has Gone Before") *"You won't last a cycle in there without Web shields." ("The Edge of Beyond") *"But we can't support the whole city in a ruined Principal Office for more than a few cycles!" ("End Prog") *"...we proudly present, for your appreciation, this cycle only, the marvellous, magnificent Mainframe Strolling Players!" ("End Prog") Times of "Day" * "Why, you probably know where you're gonna be at 10,030." ("The TIFF") * "Floating Point at 1400." ("The TIFF") * "Sure, Enzo. Professional tomato techniques start at 2530." ("The Great Brain Robbery") * "You gotta keep Enzo busy at least until 2450." ("Talent Night") * "Sir! Mainframe's population is conducting some celebratory event, online at 2450, sir!" ("Talent Night") * "At 2330 today, the nulls of Mainframe mounted an attack on the virus Hexadecimal." ("NullZilla") * "In the name of the Guardians, you will be deleted at 0800." ("Return of The Crimson Binome") Age This much is known: *Sprite ages are counted in binary (always with at least two digits, with a leading 0 if necessary). *The birthday celebrated by Enzo in "Talent Night", although Bob and Mike both call it his first, appears in fact to be his second, as he is seen to turn from 01 to 10 (2 in binary). The creators have reportedly confirmed that this was an error, and Enzo's appearance in the flashbacks at age 00 supports the idea that it must have been his second birthday. *In said flashbacks, although not having reached his real first birthday yet, Enzo is clearly along the lines of a preschooler. *In "The Episode with No Name", Turbo tells Matrix, "By my reckoning, you should only be 11" (3), indicating that his physical/lived age must be older than that, since this comes as a surprise to him. *Official materials (such as the profile on the first ADV Films DVD) refer to young Enzo as the equivalent of ten years old. *The official website referred to Matrix as the equivalent of 22 years old, but Gavin Blair has said him to be only 19. Either way, he is around 20. While anything beyond this is extrapolation, it does logically suggest that a sprite birthday is the equivalent of roughly five years for a human (possibly slightly less), and that Matrix is likely 100 (4). What is not known is what actual unit of time a birthday represents. Numbers are given, but not of what. Non-Canon The ReBoot Style Guide for Season 1 lists the main characters' ages as follows: * Bob: 3.62664^10 Hz (50 Hz cycle) * Dot: None of your business * Enzo: 1.26144^10 Hz * Frisket: 64 (in dog speed) * Megabyte: N7.0956^11 Hz * Hack & Slash: 23 Hz (also their combined IQ) * Hexadecimal: How rude! You never ask a lady her age As a hertz is a unit of frequency (defined as 1 cycle per second), it is in fact the inverse of time. Speaking of which... Speed "...and Al back there only runs at 3 decahertz!" "Whaaat?"